1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rechargeable battery for the headlight of a bicycle, and an attaching structure thereof.
2. Description of the Background Art
A rechargeable battery for the headlight of a bicycle is comparatively heavy in weight, and its displacement from the mounted location or jolting during traveling would cause trouble. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain the battery stably in the mounted location over a long period of time of traveling. Conventionally, a bottle holder or bottle cage provided on a down tube of a bicycle frame for holding a water bottle or the like has been utilized to attach the battery to the bicycle. Further, the length of a wire for connecting the battery to the headlight has been fixedly set according to the attached location of the bottle holder.
However, unlike the bottle holder which should hold the bottle in an upward position to prevent spilling of the content, the rechargeable battery for the headlight can be attached to the bicycle frame in various locations in any position or posture. Besides, it is desired to achieve firmer attachment of the battery to the bottle holder. Accordingly, there has been a demand for development of a way of attaching the rechargeable battery for the headlight to a bicycle in any position or attitude in a location other than the bottle holder.
An object of the present invention is to provide a rechargeable battery for a headlight that can be securely attached to a bicycle in a variety of locations including a bottle holder, and to provide an attaching structure therefor.
The rechargeable battery for a headlight according to the present invention is used for the headlight of a bicycle. The rechargeable battery includes a wire to electrically connect the rechargeable battery to the headlight, and a through hole to let through a belt for attaching the rechargeable battery body to the bicycle.
The belt passed through the through hole is fastened around a bicycle frame, so that the rechargeable battery can be firmly secured. It is preferred to provide two such through holes, which are preferably arranged such that two belts are tied around respective tubes of the frame at the corner where the two tubes intersect with each other. As a result, it becomes possible to secure the rechargeable battery for the headlight more firmly to the bicycle in various locations thereof.
The rechargeable battery for the headlight may be provided with a groove to wind the wire thereon.
To allow attachment of the rechargeable battery for the headlight to a bicycle in a variety of mounting locations, the wire for electrically connecting the rechargeable battery to the headlight should have a length long enough to reach the farthest possible location. When the rechargeable battery provided with such a long wire is being attached to a location near the headlight, the loosely hanging wire may become an obstacle to pedaling, or be entangled with the spoked wheel when travelling. Provision of the wire winding groove makes it possible to prevent the slack of the wire when the rechargeable battery is attached near the headlight, and hence to prevent such undesirable conditions which may cause an accident.
The rechargeable battery for the headlight may further be provided with means for temporarily holding the wire.
When the slack of the wire is wound onto the groove, it may come loose during traveling. Provision of the temporary holding means can prevent the wound wire from coming loose.
The temporary holding means may be a tubular groove that is formed at a portion of the rechargeable battery facing the wire winding groove to temporarily hold the wire along a direction intersecting the direction of the wire wound on the groove.
Provision of such a temporary holding means makes it possible to temporarily retain the wire in close proximity to the wire winding groove along the direction crossing the wire winding direction, and therefore, the wire can be maintained stably in the anchored state. Specifically, the longitudinal direction of the tubular groove intersects the wire winding direction. Thus, even if there is a force operating to loosen the wound wire, the wire is pressed against the corner where the two directions are crossing, and such contact with the corner applies large frictional force to the wire. Accordingly, the force operating to loosen the wound wire is considerably lessened by the strong frictional force at the corner and kept from propagating any further, whereby the slack of the wire is prevented reliably. Herein, the tubular groove refers to a groove having a cross section that is greater in width at the inner room than at the opening thereof. Thus, once the wire is pressed and inserted into the groove, it will not readily escape therefrom.
The wire provided to the rechargeable battery is preferably a stretchable cord having elastic restoring force.
In this case, even if the rechargeable battery is being attached to the bicycle in a location requiring the maximum length of the cord, the elastic restoring force can be generated by winding the cord on the groove. Accordingly, the cord is maintained constantly in the strained or tense state via its portion pressed into the tubular groove, so that the slack of the wound cord can be prevented still more reliably. Examples of such an extensible cord with elastic storing force may include a curled cord and others.
The rechargeable battery for the headlight of the present invention may further include a lengthwise depression that is provided on a surface of the rechargeable battery sandwiched between openings at both ends of the through hole and extends along a direction intersecting the direction coupling the two openings.
The lengthwise depression comes into contact with the bicycle frame. It increases the contact area between the rechargeable battery and the bicycle frame, thereby enabling still more stable attachment of the rechargeable battery to the frame. The aforementioned surface of the rechargeable battery sandwiched between the openings of the through hole on which the lengthwise depression is to be formed may be either the surface on the shorter circumferential side or the surface on the longer circumferential side with respect to the openings.
The rechargeable battery for the headlight preferably includes a plurality of through holes to let belts therethrough.
For example, two such through holes may be provided to the rechargeable battery. In this case, the two through holes are preferably arranged to allow two belts to be tied around respective tubes of the bicycle frame at the corner where the two tubes intersect with each other. As a result, it becomes possible to place the rechargeable battery such that displacement of the rechargeable battery in a direction which would be difficult to prevent with one belt can be readily prevented with the other belt. This further enhances the secure attachment of the rechargeable battery to the bicycle.
The attaching structure of a rechargeable battery for a headlight according to the present invention is used to attach the rechargeable battery as described above to a bicycle, by letting a belt through the through hole and fastening the belt around a member of the bicycle.
With such an attaching structure, it becomes possible to attach the rechargeable battery for the headlight to the bicycle in a variety of locations.
The attaching structure may be provided with an anti-slippage fixing member that is attached to a bicycle frame for receiving the rechargeable battery.
Provision of such an anti-slippage fixing member attached to the frame makes it possible to attach the rechargeable battery to the frame more firmly, without employing two through holes. This further increases the number of locations where the rechargeable battery can be attached to the bicycle. Herein, the anti-slippage fixing member xe2x80x9cfor receivingxe2x80x9d the rechargeable battery may be a simple member gripping the rechargeable battery, or a holder housing the rechargeable battery therein like a bottle cage.
With the attaching structure of the rechargeable battery for the headlight of the present invention, two belts may be passed through the through hole(s) and each belt can be fastened around respective one of two crossing tubes of a bicycle frame.
With such a configuration, it is possible to place the rechargeable battery for the headlight, e.g., at a corner where a top tube and a down tube intersect with each other. In this case, two belts may be passed through a common through hole and tied around the top tube and the down tube, respectively, to secure the rechargeable battery.
The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.